MP sees no evidence against Israeli soldier investigated in Brazil

The Federal Public Ministry (MPF) stated that there is no evidence that confirms the participation of the Israeli soldier accused by a pro-Palestinian NGO in war crimes in the Gaza Strip. In an opinion obtained by People’s Gazetteattorney Marcus Marcelus Gonzaga Goulart says that the evidence presented against him, in Brazil, “was produced unilaterally by private individuals and does not unequivocally confirm participation (…) in the alleged acts”.

In the document, the agency also says that there is not even proof that he killed anyone in the conflict. The imputations made against him, the MPF also says, may be nothing more than “narratives”. THE People’s Gazette chose not to publicize the name of the Israeli soldier, who had to leave Brazil in a hurry over the weekend.

He began to be investigated by the Federal Police following a request from the Hind Rajab Foundation, a pro-Palestinian NGO based in Belgium that promotes legal actions abroad to arrest Israeli soldiers involved in the war against Hamas. At the end of December, on behalf of the entity, two lawyers from São Paulo presented a request to the Federal Court of Bahia to arrest him, after discovering, on social media, that he was vacationing in Morro de São Paulo, a traditional destination for Israeli tourists. in the state.

The case was referred to the Federal Court in Brasília – competent to analyze requests for the arrest of foreigners – and, on December 30th, during court duty, judge Raquel Soares Charelli ordered the PF to open an investigation to investigate the soldier.

Following the MPF’s opinion, the judge, however, denied the soldier’s request for arrest, as well as the seizure of his cell phone and passport, so that he would be prevented from leaving Brazil. Alerted by Israeli authorities, the soldier left the country and headed towards Argentina.

In the opinion, attorney Marcus Goulart stated that the accusations made by the Hind Rajab Foundation against him, despite being “very serious”, may be nothing more than “narratives” and “adjectives”.

Based on photos on social media, the NGO accuses the soldier of participating in the destruction of a residential block in the Gaza Strip to open the Netzarim corridor, a 7-kilometer-wide line, occupied by Israeli forces, that separates the southern regions and north of the territory. Pro-Palestinian entities claim that it is a violent place, where Israeli soldiers would kill Palestinian civilians because they consider them terrorists in a generalized way.

For the MPF, the accusations by the Hind Rajab Foundation that link the soldier to atrocities in the region are fragile – the NGO accuses him of two war crimes provided for in the Rome Statute, of which Brazil is a signatory:

1. “large-scale destruction and appropriation of assets in circumstances not justified by any military needs and carried out in an illegal and arbitrary manner”; and
2. “large-scale destruction and appropriation of property in circumstances not justified by any military needs and carried out in an illegal and arbitrary manner”.

“The very materiality (of the crimes attributed to the soldier) is very rarefied, even if the documents and images brought by the representatives are considered legitimate, as they would only demonstrate the destruction of supposed private buildings and the presence of the person represented in the respective region, within a context of war or military invasion, which inevitably brings destruction, savagery and horror”, says the MPF opinion.

“There is nothing in the record suggesting that (the soldier) would have killed anyone or actually participated in the destruction of private property without ‘military necessity.’ It is equally hasty to take for granted the statement that the alleged ‘expansion of the Netzarim corridor’ would constitute an undertaking to eliminate a people ‘motivated by supremacist ideologies’”, the opinion continues.

“If it is indisputable that such allegations are very serious and need to be properly investigated by independent authorities, no less certain is the need to maintain a good distance from the narratives and their adjectives”, says the document.

The Hind Rajab Foundation’s request to investigate and arrest the soldier does not provide direct evidence of crimes committed by the Israeli. In most of the 43 pages of the petition, lawyers Maira Machado Frota Pinheiro and Caio Patrício de Almeida reproduce articles by pro-Palestinian activists with accusations against Israeli forces in the fight against Hamas.

His supposed participation is presented through photos on social media in which he appears in uniform as a soldier in places of apparent conflict.

In an excerpt from the petition, the lawyers draw attention to the fact that he appears smiling. “(The soldier) poses smiling in front of clearly residential properties while explosives are installed for subsequent controlled demolition,” they say.

Elsewhere, they highlight the fact that the post has the soundtrack of a violent game as its musical background. “The song chosen by the news reporter as the soundtrack for his post about war crimes memories is that of the video game Grand Theft Auto, in which the main character is a criminal who explores fictional cities, carrying out criminal missions such as attacking people and stealing cars. and even airplanes.”

Within the Federal Public Ministry, the possibility of progress in investigations in Brazil is considered incipient. Although legally possible – due to the Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute, which impose on States Parties the obligation to collaborate in the persecution of those accused of war crimes –, in the case of the Israeli, the accusations are fragile and the means very limited research.

The first, more concrete reason, is the fact that the soldier had already left Brazil and, therefore, had not had his cell phone seized, nor had he been questioned about the case at the PF. Information collected could, in theory, fuel proceedings against him at the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Even so, the soldier is considered a “small fish”, a common combatant within the Israeli military machine, without command power and, therefore, without high direct responsibility for possible excesses and abuses in the fight against Hamas.

Experienced researchers see the Hind Rajab Foundation’s initiative as a political strategy. In recent months, the NGO has been trying to arrest Israeli soldiers who travel abroad for tourism, as part of a campaign to reinforce the moral condemnation of the State of Israel internationally, taking advantage of the commotion on the part of the legal and intellectual community, in several countries, identified with progressive causes, in favor of the Palestinians.

The mere opening of the inquiry, in any case, outraged the Israeli government. The Israeli embassy in Brasília criticized the Brazilian court’s decision and stated that Israel “is exercising its right to self-defense after the brutal massacre committed by Hamas on October 7, 2023”. “The real perpetrators of war crimes are terrorist organizations, which exploit civilian populations as human shields and use international hospitals and facilities as infrastructure for acts of terrorism targeting Israeli citizens,” he said.